"Papillon" is a Robert Tucker designed 'Fantasie 19' and my first boat.. I've been sailing since the age of 15 (when I did my RYA Part 1 and 2 at Emsworth Sailing School) so I've been on the water (but more in it) for going on 30+ years now... this blog is about our adventures together - they may be small one's (because despite the years I have little experience in boats - I was mostly windsurfing!), but they are adventures none the less..

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

...almost there...

...absolutely knackered, but got loads done and to all intents and purpose my stuff is done and she's good to go back in....

...first - the mast foot is fixed... my thanks to C&B Marine [clicky]at Chichester Marina - Chris is one of natures gentlemen and did an amazing job on the mast foot.... looked like new. Best of all only £45... not bad given the time/materials required, and way cheaper than a new one - even if I could find one! Very happy, and recommend him/them completely if you need any welding or metal fabrication of any kind...

From this..

To this:

Not bad, eh?

Drilled out the mast foot for four rivets (monel [clicky] as recommended & 5mm or 3/16th) - two of the rivets are fitted, but I only have a hand riveter and it was bl**dy difficult to close them up due to the harder metal than aluminium.... for anyone coming after me, it's just about do-able with a hand type, but only just - you'd be better off with a lazy-tongs/concertina type gun. At the moment my plan is to put the mast up and put the last two in using some lazy tongs if I can find some to borrow...

Next - the hole is now filled....

From this:

...sorry for the picture quality - duff camera setting.

To this:

Superb job... I got this done through the chandlery in Emsworth Marina [click here], they have a guy who does all the glass fibre repair work - he's
been doing it for years, and it shows.. I had the good fortune to be
there when he did this....

So - from memory (and I was also making tea for some of it!), he:

ground out both sides (he did the inside by hand "so I didn't have too much dust to clear up"!)

then sealed the inside with some parcel tape,

filled from the outside with a thick goop of resin (he works in polyester by the way - not epoxy) before putting some parcel tape over that from the outside to keep it in place...

then applied the heat gun to set the mix quicker...

After that he applied some sheets of CSM on the inside, and then

moved outside to sand the hole down and fill with about two or three layers more of that goopy resin this time with chopped strand mat cut up into it to make it strong....

applied the heat gun again, another sand down, and he then

applied a filler and sanded that down

...job done for that day - not a word of a lie he did the lot in about an hour, amazing to watch....

He'll come back and do the gel coat this week - he reckons he can match it exactly, I've told him it looks good enough already!

A nice to have while I had the time was some prettify'ing in the cabin - like most boats of this age my headlining was drooping, especially at the back near the radio/companionway where I'd also lost the sheet that used to hang down behind the radio covering the wall...

When this stuff comes off there's loads of old decayed foam and glue left behind so while I had the time I whipped off the ceiling panels, and re-stapled (£5 hand stapler from B&Q is my wonder tool of the year) the surviving foam to take the sag and wrinkles out - just stretch and staple - I also whipped off the radio (steady on...) and cleaned up and and then painted the wall behind.... all screwed back and it now looks much tidier and I was left thinking why the hell I hadn't done it years ago, as 30 minutes work made a huge difference to how the cabin looked... much cleaner/neater.

Last of all I fitted and wired in a new masthead light - as per the previous post I went with a straight forward anchor light as I already have nav lights at deck level - happily I was able to re-use existing drilled holes in the (home made stainless steel) mast head fitting, and I re-used the existing wiring.... having thought long and hard, I also decided to just go with windex rather than an aerial/windex combo... there'll be time for a new aerial another time....

Proper job.. all screws/nuts/bolts stainless..... despite appearances the mast is still down at the moment, just a spot of photo twiddling....

Just need to get that gel coat done and I can't start thinking about launch dates....

I also need to decide on my strategy as while I'm fairly certain I've fixed the source of my leak there's still a certain element of doubt... I think my plan at the moment is to leave the mast down, launch before a good high tide, moor up to the club pontoon for an hour or so and monitor for leakages, and depending on the results of that I can then bring her out again, or take her under the bridge and back to the mooring...